1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for removing liquid contaminants, particularly oil, from the surface of the ocean, sea or other similar body of water, and more particularly to a system used in combination with an ordinary passenger catamaran vessel for removing such contaminants from the surface of water whereby an ordinary passenger catamaran is quickly adapted to become an efficient remover of contaminants.
2. Related Art
It has become an unfortunate fact of modern existence that oil spills from oil tankers or from oil drilling derricks and the like are a fairly common occurrence. The effect of these oil spills can be catastrophic on the environment, particularly where the oil slick is allowed to reach land. For this reason, it is important to contain and remove the oil spill as soon as possible after it is spilled into a body of water. If the oil spill is not contained at this early stage, then because of its size and the prevailing water and weather conditions, it typically becomes much more difficult to contain and remove the oil slick which then becomes likely to cause serious environmental damage.
Several devices have been devised to contain and remove the oil from an oil slick or debris from the surface of the water. Exemplary of these are U.S. Pat. Nos.:
3,915,864, issued to Massei, Oct. 28, 1975 PA0 3,966,615, issued to Petchul et al., June 29, 1976 PA0 4,108,773, issued to Macaluso, Aug. 22, 1978 PA0 4,128,068, issued to Ogura et al., Dec. 5, 1978 PA0 4,551,244, issued to Inoue, Nov. 5, 1985 PA0 4,795,567, issued to Simpson et al., Jan. 3, 1989
These patents all disclose devices whose exclusive use is in removing polluting material from the water, particularly oil. Consequently, these prior art devices have the deficiency of having no other usable purpose while waiting for an oil spill to occur. The lack of multiple uses for these vehicles while waiting for oil spills to occur is a problem in want of a solution.
The previous vessels employed generally also suffer from an inability to rapidly move from where they are to the site of the oil spill. Those vessels which are self-powered are not adapted for high speed travel from wherever they may be located to the oil spill site. Those devices which may be dismantled and transported to the site of the oil slick are relatively cumbersome and consequently not easy to transport. The inability of these prior art devices to rapidly and easily respond to an oil spill site is also a problem in want of a solution.
It is in view of these and other problems and objectives which will become clear hereafter that the instant invention was created.